The House of Wolves
by Noisiboi
Summary: Bruce Wayne is dead. And having sacrificed himself to save Jason Todd from a murderous death by the Joker, only Jason can take on the cowl and follow the legacy of the Dark Knight. But with Jason's thirst for blood and the building of a new Arkham City underway, will he live up to the Batman name or fall with it? {Jason x Various; Some Character Death}
1. Chapter 1: Heir To The Cowl

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the images, characters, or settings used in this story, nor am I using them for profit. I am just a fan of them.

WARNING: Major Character Death, Some Sexual References, Language, and Blood/Gore. Rating May Change.

* * *

Jason Todd: House of Wolves

…

Chapter One: Heir To The Cowl

* * *

…

"Master Jason, are you absolutely certain this is a good idea?" Alfred muttered in a worried tone, standing not far behind Jason as he waited patiently for him to finish dressing.

Jason slung his suit jacket on and grabbed a red tie off the tie rack to wrap underneath his shirt collar, standing in the middle of the master bedroom closet.

A soft chuckle escaped his thin lips at the elderly butler's concern, "Alfred, it's been five years now since _the incident_. I don't think anyone will suspect Bruce's long-lived secret at this point. It's safe."

Alfred Pennyworth, professional actor, butler, and debatably an ex-member of a top secret military program in the past. Once a loyal servant to the Wayne family, now passed down into the servanthood of Jason Todd-Wayne, last remaining member of the Wayne family name to remain at the mansion since the death of Bruce Wayne.

The corners of Alfred's lips turned down into a frown, emphasizing the soft wrinkles on his cheeks and forehead, "You know full-well that Master Bruce's secret being exposed is the least of my worries right now… I just—"

Jason smiled back at Alfred in an understanding way, "—just don't want to lose me too. I get it."

Alfred nodded in confirmation, "I can't lose anymore members of my family in as a horrific way as they have been lost so far… I don't think this old heart of mine could handle another one. Not another one."

Jason secured the tie around his neck and turned around to step out of the closet and place a hand on Alfred's shoulder affectionately, "Alfred. It's been five years since Bruce died. I've kept his legacy of the Batman alive so far… it's time I put the Wayne family name back into the limelight as well. Nobody has ever lived a double life quite like he did. And now that he's gone—" he paused.

Jason brushed past Alfred and grabbed his cellphone off the nearby king-sized bed, the sheets still thrown about lazily from Jason's unusual sleep habits.

"—I simply have no logical reason not to do the same. I will make sure nobody ever forgets the Wayne name." He finished.

Alfred let out a sigh of distress, "If you follow the same path that Master Bruce walked… It just might be the last thing you do."

Jason scowled a bit, "That's the thing I need you to never forget, Alfred. I'm not Bruce, nor do I handle my problems the same way as him. I'm just keeping his memory alive and well."

"Trust me, Master Jason. It's going to be hard to forget that fact with the amount of criminal bodies piling up in Gotham's morgues in the course of the past year since you've put on the cowl…" Alfred said in a rather disappointed tone, "Please, if you're going to keep Bruce's memory alive, just don't make it a sour one."

Jason turned back to Alfred and slid his cellphone into his pocket, "I won't."

He faced away from the aging butler and went to walk away when Alfred spoke up again, "Ah, Master Jason, you mustn't forget the reason you're stepping into the limelight this evening in the first place."

Jason glanced back at him with a puzzled look, "I'm going to a protest rally outside the new Arkham City prison district, aren't I?"

Alfred gave a sly look and walked over to stick a white button on Jason's suit jacket, "Then you better take your button with you as well. You of all people should know the importance of representing, yes?"

He let out an amused chuckle at Alfred's reminder, "Well, yeah, of course. Thanks, Alfred."

Jason reached up and readjusted the button, flashing the Arkham Asylum logo circled over and crossed by a red line to signify Jason's opposition to the Arkham City movement.

"Take care, Master Jason."

* * *

...

Cameras flashed and flickered in the shadow of the great wall that sealed in every criminal of Gotham into the prison district known infamously as ' _Arkham City_ '. The giant Arkham A-logo was stamped on the side of the wall with pride of the terrible development.

"And that is why, people of Gotham," Jason announced into the microphone in front of the Arkham City wall, "We must rally against this scourge of our once great city. We will petition, we will vote, and we will make our voices heard until Gotham tears down these walls that were meant to protect us from the evil in Gotham's underbelly, but instead has stolen our sense of security and safety for our families and our loved ones alike!"

The small crowd of civilians and news reporters clapped and cheered for Jason's bold message protesting against the building of Arkham City.

"I'll take any questions now, if you have them…" Jason said into the mic, readjusting his tie nervously. This was his first time actually giving a public speech. If it weren't for Alfred spending hours teaching him how to properly deliver a speech to a crowd, this definitely would have been a bust.

Hands shot up like wildfire, many voices calling out his name which caused his blue eyes to widen a bit in surprise.

Finally, he settled with picking out a hand toward the front, "Yeah, you." He said awkwardly.

The young, blonde woman he picked out cleared her throat as she stepped toward the stage and greeted, "Mister Todd, my name is Vicki Vale of the Gotham Gazette! Since you've made it public that you are the adopted son of Bruce Wayne, you should know by now that you are a major subject of interest in Gotham media."

Jason looked around, finding all the other raised hands and shouting voices a bit distracting, "That doesn't sound like a question to me, Vicki. What's your question?"

Vicki stepped a bit closer to the stage, a mic in her hand, "Mister Todd, if you truly have been adopted into the Wayne family name and are funding the opposition of the Arkham City movement using your family's fortune, I have to ask… where is Bruce Wayne? Does he know that you're using his family's money to fund a political agenda?!"

Jason leaned toward the mic to answer when he spotted an ominous-looking man toward the back of the crowd with a bald head and glasses, adorning a dark trench coat and a knowing smirk. He was the only one who didn't have his hand up in question.

He glared at the bald man suspiciously. Silently.

"Mister Todd!" Vicki exclaimed, "Are you really going to give no answer about the mysterious absence of your adoptive father?"

"My father, Bruce Wayne, is well aware of what I am using his money for, I can assure you. But he has asked me personally that I reveal nothing more about where he is or what he has to say about this Arkham City movement, and I kindly ask that you respect his privacy…" Jason replied calmly into the mic, "…Thank you."

Questions immediately burst through the crowd.

"Where is Bruce Wayne?!"

"Is he missing?!"

"Dead?!"

Jason growled in irritation at the questions derailing from the subject of Arkham City. But the chaos of the crowd was very quickly interrupted by the sounds of flashbang explosives being set off in every direction, the questions being replaced by screams and the raised hands replaced by nothing as the people in the crowd covered their ears and shut their eyes to duck in cover from the random explosions.

He backed up from the podium he spoke at to shut his eyes in pain, crying out with a loud, "Agh!"

Upon opening his eyes again, Jason was met with his vision being further blocked by white smoke filling the stage, "What the hell is happening?!" he shouted amidst the worsening havoc.

"You're being taken into custody, Mister Todd," a deep, calm voice answered in the fog, "Arrest him."

Jason only had enough time to glance to his right when a heavily armored soldier bearing the word ' _TYGER_ ' on his bulletproof vest stomped toward him, bringing the butt of a submachine gun down on Jason's temple.

"Oh, shi—" Jason muttered before blacking out on impact.

* * *

...

"Jason Todd." The disturbingly familiar, calm voice stated in the black that filled his vision.

"Or as you and I both know you as… The new Batman."

Jason's eyes finally opened into thin, hazy slits as he looked up at the tall, bald male speaking to him, "Strange…" he mumbled in pain at the pounding headache he had from being struck so hard in the temple.

The man let out a dark chuckle, "That's Doctor Hugo Strange to you, young man. Shall I diagnose you?"

Jason's ears rang and he was seeing double-vision of the ominous, familiar doctor who once worked at Arkham Asylum before it was shut down in favor of Arkham City.

The project that Doctor Strange also started.

"Wearing the same suit and identity as your deceased predecessor… I'd say clinical depression and disturbing levels of trauma. And instead of embracing the Batman identity fully, you take on the second role your predecessor as well. Bruce Wayne by day… Batman by night," he stated in a knowing tone of voice.

Jason glared up at him in rage, but said nothing. He wouldn't deny or accept anything that Strange said. Sometimes silence was the boldest response in a potentially lethal situation like this.

A malicious simper crossed Strange's tan lips, "Sounds like self-induced split personality disorder."

Jason glanced around him dizzily, looking for some sort of way out but there was nothing. Everything in the room besides Doctor Strange was pitch black.

Strange's glasses reflected Jason's disoriented expression back at him. His black hair hanging in his blue eyes, his pale face spattered with dirt and mud from being dragged to wherever he was now.

"Shall we go over your crimes as well? Goodness, that one is a much longer list to quote," the doctor laughed quietly.

Jason still said nothing, but listened nonetheless as he was starting to slowly pass out again from the pain in his head getting progressively worse.

"Over a dozen reports of murder, breaking and entering, countless attempts at vigilante justice?" he listed off to him from a clipboard before glancing up at Jason again, "Oh, I think you'll fit in with your fellow inmates at Arkham City just… _perfect_."

Jason's blue eyes rolled back into his skull as he fell back into a dull state of unconsciousness.

* * *

…

When Jason finally came to, he found himself standing in line with multiple criminals that had been captured in the past couple weeks, and were sent straight here for it. For all he knew, he was the one who captured them.

The loud yells and chants of thugs all around him blared against his eardrums as he studied his surroundings through blurred vision, "Ngh…"

"Come on, _Mister Wayne_! Get in line with the others! You're rich outside the walls, but in here, you're garbage like the rest of these sorry bastards," a prison guard mocked as he pushed Jason into a fenced off line, merely labeled: Line A.

Another guard at the front of the line looked past the two criminals in front of him and upon seeing Jason, he shouted, "Oh no, you come to the front of the line, pal. Boss says he wants you in ASAP."

The two ahead of Jason looked back at him and stepped aside so he could go ahead of them. It was obvious nobody was in a rush to get through the line.

Jason glanced at the other two in line and stepped past them, when the one who was previously at the front of the line grabbed him by the collar and shoved him back against the fence with an amused chuckle.

Jason grunted at being pinned so suddenly against the fence wall behind him. He looked down at who was holding him there and scowled at who he saw, "Floyd Lawton. Or do you prefer to be called Deadshot?"

Deadshot smirked up at him, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, "I'll prefer to be called the grim reaper after tonight. You've got a hefty price on your head, Todd, and I intend to collect."

He shoved Deadshot away from him, causing the older male to fall back against the opposite fence, causing it to rattle and shake loudly, "We'll see about that, Lawton. Keep your hopes up and maybe you'll find me."

"Break it up, ladies!" A guard shouted, stepping between them and pushing Jason toward the entrance into Arkham City where the massive gate was slowly sliding open.

Deadshot let out a deep chortle and aimed his hand out at Jason with his fingers in the shape of a gun, "I ain't in here by accident, Todd! Watch your back… and your head."

Jason glared through the shuttle-like gate as it opened to reveal yet another surprise waiting for him.

"Mister Wayne!" a short, fat man with a heavy British accent greeted as he stepped inside, "Or I guess I should call you Jason. Deadman Jason!"

It was none other than Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot. Esteemed ruler of the underground black market and infamous example of what bullying does to a kid who looks like a large bird.

Perhaps his nickname 'the _Penguin_ ' was well-earned.

Jason let out a sigh as he looked down at the abnormally short man and his lips pursed into an unamused look, "You know, I think I've met enough ugly mugs for one evening, I really hope yours is the last one. Because your face has gotta be to the grand finale of them all…" he chuckled dryly.

A couple of the armed thugs behind Penguin couldn't help but snicker a little beneath their breaths to which Penguin scowled deeply in disgust, "Shut yer traps, you idiots!" he spat.

The area fell silent again.

Jason glanced around him to find himself in some sort of alleyway. A rather convenient spot at the base between an Ace Chemicals factory and two other buildings next to it. He was cornered like a street rat.

Jason's observations were very quickly hindered by the feeling of Penguin's steel-pipe umbrella slamming against his shin, dropping him to his knees in an instant, "Rgh!" he cried out at the shooting pain in his leg.

Penguin forced his chin upward, using the tip of his umbrella so they could make eye contact, with the younger of the two now barely beneath his height.

"Now listen here… I won't take this kind of disrespect from a bloke in a fancy suit and handcuffs." Penguin deadpanned, taking the cigar out of his mouth so he could blow a puff of smoke down at Jason's face.

Jason coughed at the smoke and chuckled, "Don't like fancy suits and hand cuffs? Weird. I always took you for being into kinky shit like that."

The short, round man's face contorted with hate, "You certainly must be adopted by the Waynes, because you're the same disrespectful trash as the rest of your family!"

As Penguin lashed out in rage, he pulled his booted foot back before swinging it at Jason's face to kick him.

The mob boss's face turned pale at watching Jason lift his arms off the ground rapidly and use his handcuffs to block Penguin's attack from hitting him.

"Oh, bloody hell…" Penguin muttered just as Jason shot back up to his feet, throwing the back of his head against Penguin's jaw in an arch, smashing his skull against the man's already heavily deformed face.

Penguin spat blood all over the ground and held his mouth as he quickly limped away from Jason toward his hired thugs, "Don't just stand there, idiots! Kick his arse!"

Jason popped his neck and rolled his wrists around within his cuffs as he let the thugs approach him.

Six men. Two unarmed, two with baseball bats, one with a pair of brass knuckles, and one with a crowbar.

Jason's blue eyes narrowed as he subconsciously predicted the whole fight as it unfolded before him. One of the two unarmed thugs would come first, the other following his lead.

The unarmed ones were always cocky, leaving themselves open for a counterattack.

Once the first unarmed thug rushed in as Jason predicted, he lifted his cuffed wrists so when the thug threw a punch at him, his fists collided with the hard metal at full speed. A sickening crack echoed off his broken knuckles as he pulled back with a cry of pain.

The unarmed thug following behind him slid to a halt at seeing the initiating attack failing miserably.

Jason wasted no time in bashing his cuffed wrists against the attacking thug's face, dropping him to his knees so he could wrap his cuff links around the man's throat and yank back as hard as he could.

The only noises that filled the alleyway were the sound of the man's windpipe collapsing in on itself and Jason yanking the chain links apart as he kicked the man over to suffocate on the cold dirt.

The other thugs backed up, their faces pale in disgust at what they just witnessed.

A dark look settled over Jason's expression, "One to zero. Come and get me."

Cobblepot stumbled back and saw immediately that now was a good time to run. And he did just that, turning tail and limping away without the assistance of his umbrella because he was going to waste no time trying to retrieve it while his men were slaughtered behind him.

Loud shouts of pain and the sounds of bones breaking under ferocious impact could be heard a block away or more as the Wayne-adopted son had his way with the criminals of Arkham City.

Penguin made a mad dash for a nearby ladder, in hopes of climbing to safety at the top of the Ace Chemicals building but his hopes were soon diminished when he could no longer hear his hired minions behind him and soon after, felt Jason's grip around his ankle.

"O-Oh, bugger!" Cobblepot barked out as Jason dragged him back down the ladder.

Jason growled deeply in a furious manner, "You're all out of thugs. And I'm all out of patience, Oswald."

Penguin quickly went from fearless mob boss to terrified victim in seconds before Jason's eyes, "What do you want from me?! Money, power? You Waynes have already taken everything else from me, what more could you want—?!"

But he was sharply interrupted by Jason spinning around and slamming Penguin down on his head, effectively knocking him out.

Jason let out a small chuckle, "I don't want anything of yours, Penguin. Just remember this next time you decide to trash the Wayne family name."

The black-haired young man looked around at all the bleeding, twitching bodies around him and frowned, "I get the feeling this isn't the last fight I'll be dealing with tonight…"

He could suddenly hear the cellphone in his pocket starting to ring, playing a rather loud ringtone to which Jason quickly answered.

"Alfred?" he greeted, already knowing who it was.

"Master Jason! Where have you been, I watched what happened on the news! Are you quite alright, sir?" Alfred asked worriedly.

"Never better, Alfred." He looked around at the unconscious thugs around him. Penguin would live but the same couldn't be said for a few of the others. If he told Alfred that he had killed again, the older butler would be furious so he refrained from telling him everything.

Alfred waited for him to say more when he spoke up again, "Master Jason?"

Jason changed the subject, "Listen, Alfred, I need you to send the Batwing out with a Bat suit loaded up. It's a long story, but I'm in Arkham City now and I can't stop Hugo Strange from keeping this place running by myself, but Batman just might."

"Right away, sir, what are your coordinates?"

He looked above him to see the green, neon sign of the Ace Chemicals factory, "At the old Ace Chemicals building, in Parks Row. Just drop it right on the roof, I'll be there."

With a press of his thumb, he ended the call and started to climb to the top of the building.

…

…

The Batwing's jet engine roared across the sky as it raced away back to the Batcave across Gotham, leaving behind a large metal pod for Jason atop the Ace Chemicals building.

Clicks and snaps elicited from Jason's body as he equipped the Bat suit armor, sliding on the gloves and extending his fingers to test the armor's flexibility before looking down at the rest of his high-tech suit.

The armor was metallic and black in color, a long, red Bat logo stretching from one shoulder pad to the other, the shoulder pads extending into the long, black cape that billowed around his feet as he stepped back from the armored pod. His gloves were thick and bulky, designed to hold extra gadgets that his seemingly limitless utility belt couldn't hold on its own. The armor was slender in design so it didn't get in the way when Jason really needed to move.

Last but not least was the signature cowl, the eyes turned down in a permanent glare with eyes that glowed a deep red color. A particular difference in design that Jason chose over Bruce's original design was an extended part of the mask that covered the rest of his face like a helmet, the piece covering his mouth doubling as extra protection and a voice modulator.

He reached up with two fingers and activated the voice modulator in the Bat cowl helmet so that his voice was much deeper and more mechanical when he spoke, "Alfred, I've equipped the armor and turned on the encrypted radio frequency in my helmet, you should be able to contact me as soon as you receive this."

"I copy, Master Jason. I've done some digging and researching while you were dressing into your armor, and I found out that Selina Kyle was transferred into Arkham City no more than a couple weeks ago…"

Jason's voice bellowed as he spoke, "If anyone knows what the situation in Arkham City is, it's her."

"Precisely my thoughts, sir."

Jason nodded and walked toward the edge of the building, peering out over the skyline of Arkham City, breathing in the stink of crime and corruption across the walled-in prison district.

Swiping his cape away and causing it to wave in the cold breeze behind him, he replied, "This is Jason Todd checking out…"

He lunged off the edge of the building and allowed his cape to unfurl in the shape of massive bat wings as he glided over the buildings below.

"… and this is Batman checking in."

…

* * *

 **{A/N} Hello there, reader, my name's Noisiboi!**

 **I've been on here a while and always been into Batman but this is my first actual Batman story I've written. ^^;**

 **So go easy on me if there's something you didn't understand, I more than welcome any questions or comments you may have! Just direct them into the little review box below or send me a follow or favorite, or even just a PM!**

 **The plot really kicks into gear next chapter, so keep on the watch-out for my next update. :)**

 **Thanks for reading!**

 **-Nb**


	2. Chapter 2: The Cat and The Bat

Chapter Two: The Cat and The Bat  
…

* * *

…

The quiet sound of fingernail clicking against old metal echoed through the abandoned Gotham courthouse as Harvey Dent flipped his signature coin into the air over and over again in a dull, impatient fashion.

The air was tense. Nervous.

The room was full of criminals, rapists, murderers and the like. The only thing separating the scum in the massive courtroom was their difference in allegiance.

One side was your typical thugs working under Two-Face. The other side a collection of Penguin's gang members, the majority of them dressed in black and white and some even with bird masks covering their faces.

But even the penguin-esque masks couldn't hide their fear as they stood frozen in place with Two-Face's men having guns trained on them.

"I've gotta say, gentlemen, I'm very disappointed. I expected your boss to show a little better manners than this," Two-Face sighed, the Harvey Dent side of his personality talking, "I offer the thief who stole the most valuable item Penguin owns and he repays me with a no-show? Or did he maybe just have nothing worth trading for our lovely little Cat?"

Two-Face waved a hand towards Selina who was dangling by a rope over a looming vat of acid, boiling hot beneath her. She was hung by her ankles, her wrists tied uncomfortably behind her back, "Aw, Harv. Do you really think I'm that valuable? Maybe you should take this lovely little Cat off display then so I can show you how flattered I am…"

The Two-Face side of Harvey's personality quickly returned to surface and he whipped out a revolver to press the barrel against her temple through the leather hood that concealed her thick, short black hair, "Or maybe I'll make your death quick and just get it over with!"

Selina winced at Two-Face screaming into her ear, "Ugh. You've really gotten yourself in deep now, Selina," she sighed to herself.

One of Penguin's men finally worked the courage to take a step closer toward the gun-wielding thugs of Harvey's group, "M-Mistah Two-Face, please, let us go free. I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we'll walk right out that front door and go straight to Penguin to find out what happened to him. And then we'll come right back!"

Two-Face looked away from Selina to turn back to Penguin's group that he was supposed to be ' _negotiating_ ' with.

A dark smirk slipped across Harvey's lips from the pale skin on the right side of his face to the red, scorched off muscle of his left side, "Heh, of course. How rude of me… I invited you to a courthouse and court's already in session. I suppose you're rather eager for the verdict, aren't you?"

He picked his infamous coin back out of his pocket. The very coin he'd used to decide the fate of hundreds of lives even before these mere thugs that he was about to judge.

"Heads, you leave here alive… but Tails?" he let out a malicious chuckle, "Not so much."

Two-Face rolled the coin between his fingers before flicking it high into the air above his head. Every eye in the room followed its fast ascent and then its slow descent back into his palm.

He caught it as soon as it landed and flipped it around to slap it on his wrist, drawing his hand away to see the result.

The heartbeats of every 'convicted' criminal in the room skipped as they waited for their fate to be revealed.

To their dismay, a villainous simper crawled across the destroyed side of Harvey's face in satisfaction, "Guilty. Sorry, gentlemen… the only suitable punishment for the charges against you is execution."

"Mistah Two-Face!" the Penguin thug from earlier cried out in panic.

"Kill 'em all."

And with that, the abandoned courthouse echoed loudly with the sounds of gunfire, light flickering and flashing on the faces of Harvey's men as Penguin's group was gunned down mercilessly.

Two-Face let a dark chuckle escape his lips as he put the gun back to Selina's head, a scowl crossing her lips as his gaze returned to her, "You're turn, Cat."

With another roll of the coin between his fingers, he got ready to flip it when he heard a loud voice bellow from the rafters, "Only dogs murder unarmed men, Dent. You know what happens to dogs like you?"

A dark figure suddenly plunged down and landed behind Two-Face's men, faced toward Harvey with a sharp glare before a magnetic shockwave fired off behind him, jamming the guns of the entire makeshift firing squad and flooring them instantly from the impact.

"They get put down." The man growled out, looking up to reveal himself as none other than the Dark Knight, Batman.

Harvey growled in irritation and pulled the gun away from Selina's head to aim it at Batman's head across the courtroom, "Get up, you useless bastards, the Bat is here! _Kill him!_ " he shouted in rage.

Jason smirked beneath the face-covering Batman mask and waited until the very last second to dodge roll to the left in timing with Two-Face firing a round from his revolver at him, the bullet ricocheting and shooting one of his thugs right between the eyes.

The armed criminal dropped dead before he could even get back on his feet.

At the loud, chaotic distraction, Selina used this as her chance to claw her hands loose but not without the notice of Two-Face.

Harvey and Selina made eye contact for only a split second before he whipped his gun back up to shoot Selina, but she made full use of her renewed freedom, digging her claws into the good side of his face to send him reeling back in pain, "Agh! You're going to pay for that, you stupid bitch!"

As Two-Face stepped back to recover from the powerful blow to his face, Selina cut her feet loose and grabbed onto the rope before she could fall into the acid and used her momentum to swing into Harvey, kicking him through a nearby banister toward Batman across the courtroom.

Jason eyed his various gun-wielding assailants quickly to assess the situation before hearing the commotion behind him and glancing back to see Two-Face flying at him from the impact of Selina's strike.

Acting in unison with Selina, he turned and slammed a foot back into Harvey's spine in a fierce side kick, knocking the wind out of his lungs and throwing him against the side of the acid vat.

The small metal vat let out a bellowing rumble as he slumped against the floor unconscious.

Once Jason saw Two-Face was incapacitated for the moment, he turned his attention back to the disarmed thugs who had now surrounded him with their fists up, ready for Round Two.

Jason scanned the area around him and observed the dangerous situation for an opening to strike when he suddenly could feel Selina's slender figure press against his armored back.

He glanced toward her to find themselves back to back, a coy smirk across her pale lips as she whispered, "Welcome back, handsome. Been a while."

"Selina. What's going on here?" Jason asked, his voice modulator making his voice unfamiliar and mechanically deep. It would be safer this way, considering Selina wouldn't know who was under the cowl yet.

"I heard you were in town, so I decided to join in on Two-Face and Penguin's little turf war to get your attention. It was the quickest way to find my dark, brooding Bat. Isn't that obvious?" she replied, her words coming out in a satisfied hum.

Jason scoffed beneath his breath as he reached behind him into his utility belt for a handful of smoke pellets, "We both know that's a bluff. Now what's the real story?"

Selina smirked as the thugs closed in on them, effectively trapping the duo in the middle between them all, "Don't you think we should deal with this little problem first? I'd love to sit and chat, but these boys don't look happy and I don't have the element of surprise to my advantage this time around."

"Actually you do," he whipped his hand out with the smoke pellets in hand and tossed them down, a cloud of smoke bursting from the ground and blasting the various thugs in the face as the smoke plumed out rapidly from the floor, "That makes this _their_ problem now."

Selina purred, "Oh, Batman, you're spoiling me…" She yanked her infamous whip off the leather belt around her waist.

Jason and Selina rushed out of the smoke in opposite directions, lunging out to attack their foes while they coughed and hacked from the unexpected smoke.

…

Two-Face struggled to his feet with a groan, turning around just in time to see the last of his men get dropped to his knees by a punch from Batman before Selina grabbed onto his jaw with both hands and twisted his neck in one swift movement to snap his neck.

The thug dropped to the floor, twitching and convulsing to death.

Harvey let out a deep, husky chuckle, coughing out some blood into his palm before he brought his revolver back up in his grasp and aimed it at Batman, "This ain't over, Bat! Your Cat-slut girlfriend may be able to evade a bullet, but we both know you're way too slow for a stand-off with me!"

Batman and Catwoman stopped in place.

Selina glared at Batman when she saw his wrist twitch out of the corner of her green eyes and she knew he was going to make a move, "Bats… Don't you dare take the fall for us."

"Too late," his eyes narrowed and he whipped out a Batarang with one hand and tossed it in a circular arc, while the other reached behind him to grab out his Batclaw launcher.

Two-Face growled and barked out, "Wrong move!" And he fired a round off, the bullet casing shooting out of the chamber and sending a bullet flying through Batman's chest just as Jason aimed up at the rafters to shoot the Batclaw launcher in a last ditch effort.

Selina sprinted toward Harvey while he was distracted with Batman but he quickly aimed the gun at her this time with a smirk, "Let's find out how many lives you've got left, pussycat."

The Batarang that was thrown from earlier suddenly spun around and stabbed straight through Two-Face's hand, throwing the gun out of his grip and causing him to scream in rage as blood gushed out of his hand.

Soon after, the Batclaw that Jason fired, hit the corner of a wooden beam in the ceiling and ricocheted off, firing back down between the rafters to latch onto Harvey's classic half-destroyed suit to yank back and lift him right off his feet.

Batman kept his grip tight on the Batclaw at seeing Two-Face lift off the floor, as he tumbled back from the bullet firing into his armor and Selina lunged into the air in a sweeping kick through Harvey's ribcage.

The force of the kick sent Harvey flying back, the steel line of the Batclaw breaking a large chunk off the rafters from the force and finally caused the Batclaw to release its grip on Two-Face's body as he soared back through the air into the nearby vat of acid.

Selina and Jason both went wide-eyed in surprise as Harvey plunged into the green acid unconscious, toxic steam shooting out of the tub and rising high into the air as his body disappeared to the bottom of the vat.

"Oh, shit… Harvey," Selina gasped out as Harvey disappeared into the bubbling chemicals, screaming in agony before going completely quiet.

There was no visible trace of him at the surface of the vat.

Selina sighed deeply and stared into the boiling acid, the green color illuminating her pale face with the same color as the liquid chemicals while Jason slowly walked over, holding his chest wound painfully.

Batman slowly peeked into the vat with her and they stared into it in silence.

Finally, Selina glanced over at him with a look that could be mistaken for some kind of guilt, "You think he's dead?"

Jason stared into the acid for a while before glancing up at her in return, "You wanna fish his body out of there and find out?" He slowly turned away and walked over to sit down against the closest wall, craning his masked head a bit to look at his bullet wound.

Selina frowned and walked over with him to bend down and reach out for it, "It's just a flesh wound, let me see it…"

"I'm sorry things went down the way they did, Selina," Batman apologized quietly.

"I don't care so much about Harvey. He had this coming to him a long time ago. What I do care about is you willingly throwing others through death's door like that," she replied.

"I thought that was your style."

"I thought it _wasn't_ yours."

Batman didn't reply to that. He knew what she meant, but that didn't call for a response.

Selina used her claws to dig her claws gloves into the wound and yank out the rather large revolver round from his chest, causing him to growl deeply in pain.

"That sounds good for my body. Digging bullets out of me with the same claws you used to gut Two-Face's thugs. Good way to get sick," he chuckled dryly.

Selina was only frowning deeper by the second, "Who the hell are you, under that mask? I want to know. I deserve to know, after what happened to Bruce."

"Selina, don't do this to yourself—"

Jason was sharply interrupted by a hard smack to the face.

"Don't give me that shit! Batman is dead… Bruce is dead for five years and then out of nowhere, you show up again?!" she spat at him, causing Jason to wince from another smack coming his way.

But Selina caught her own wrist before she could smack him a second time. She sighed to herself.

"I just want to know who's wearing Bruce's mask… You saved my life and I'm at least somewhat grateful for your help. But now you've gotta let me help you," she said, taking a deep breath to calm herself.

Jason slowly looked up at her from beneath his face-covering helm and stared into her green eyes to see the tears stinging at the corners of them, her thick black eyeliner not able to hide them from his gaze.

"… You already have helped me, Selina," he said in his deep, mechanical voice as he pushed himself back up to his feet, brushing his cape back behind him.

Selina watched him silently stand.

"But I haven't finished helping you yet in return. I may have saved your life, but Gotham needs the Batman tonight," he said quietly, his gaze averting from her, "Not the man beneath the cowl."

She raised a thin, black eyebrow at him and stood up, crossing her arms loosely, "I'm not seeing how that helps—?"

Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a short, loud tune playing across Arkham City.

Shortly after the alerting tune, the voice of Hugo Strange could be heard projected across the entire district, "Protocol 10 shall commence in 10 hours."

And then silence fell again.

Batman glared back at her a bit, "You wanna tell me what's going on in this madhouse, now?"

Selina sighed roughly, "Oh boy, it sounds like you've got your mad voice on. I can't really tell though because that new mask of yours is still hiding every strong, firm detail of your face," she smirked playfully.

"I'm not playing this game with you right now, Selina, what is Protocol 10?!" he exclaimed.

She winced at him yelling, "Indoor voice, please, you're hurting my ear."

Jason growled impatiently but then paused at seeing a small, glowing red dot shifting across Selina's face before resting right on her forehead.

The red dot was some sort of targeting laser from a long ways out, nowhere near the courthouse.

Batman's glowing red eyes widened and he looked behind him to find the two of them standing next to a window and several hundred yards out would be the shooter aiming at Selina.

…

In the shadows of a building far from the courthouse, a dark, familiar giggle elicited from between blood red lips as a deep, male voice sang giddily.

" _Hehehe_ … _Twinkle, twinkle, little Bat… Watch me kill your favorite Cat!_ "

The barrel of a sniper rifle slipped out an opened mosaic window and by looking through an infrared laser scope, Catwoman was very quickly caught in the sniper's crosshairs.

…

Jason grabbed Selina's shoulders and spun them both around at the last possible second, shouting, "Selina, look out!"

Just as he yanked her out of the sniper's aim, a loud bellow echoed through the sky from a powerful rifle shooting a bullet across the district and through the courthouse window, hitting the hardwood floor in the place of where Selina was standing a mere second ago.

Chips of wood exploded off the floor and small clouds of dust burst in every direction as Jason pinned Selina's back against the wall and looked back at the new bullet hole in the floor.

Selina gasped at all the sudden movement and she grinned excitedly, "This place is dangerous. I like it!"

Jason looked back down at her now that they were a safe distance from the windows and he growled beneath his breath, "I know this is all a big game to you, Selina, but don't you think I've saved your life enough times tonight for you to owe me an explanation?"

She giggled in amusement before shrugging a bit, "You wanna know what I know? Nothing. I know about the same amount as you do in this crazy city."

"I don't totally believe that," he replied suspiciously, "You're still hiding something."

Selina smirked darkly and leaned up slowly to whisper in his ear through the mask, "Then it looks like we've both got something to hide here, Bats. I'm missing some toys of mine that I left back at my apartment a few nights ago. Let me go get them and you can probe me all you like after that…" she said, fully intending the innuendo.

Jason's cheeks reddened under his helmet and he growled beneath his breath.

At seeing he wasn't about to let her go, Selina teasingly leaned up a little more to kiss his mask before digging one of her long claws into his bullet hole wound, causing him to gasp sharply in pain and jerk back from her.

"Don't worry, Bats, I'll be around. Pinkie promise," she said in a soft purr before cracking her whip up at the ceiling rafters and suddenly swung past him, back-flipping athletically through the air as she disappeared into the shadows of the courthouse.

Jason looked down at his wound to see it bleeding fresh blood onto his armor again before he wiped it off and glanced back to where the sniper had attempted to shoot Selina at.

"Activate crime scene analysis," Jason muttered and instantly his vision lit up in a techno red color, the computer in his helmet scanning the bullet round in the floor before analyzing the trajectory of the bullet from the window, and then from the window to where the bullet was fired.

Jason let out a thoughtful hum and reached up to press a button on the side of his helmet to zoom in with the eyes of his mask and see where the trail of bullet led.

"The old Gotham Cathedral," he suddenly said to himself as he deactivated the helmet's computer and gazed out the window at the towering church across town, "That's where our friendly neighborhood shooter is at."

He quickly turned tail and head back to the front door of the courthouse to leave, stepping over the dead, broken corpses of both Two-Face and Penguin's thugs alike.

Jason reached up to click on the comm link in his mask, his lips opening to mutter out, "Alfred, I found Selina and Two-Face. She's safe now."

"Ah, that is good news, Master Jason. And what of our once good friend, Harvey Dent?" Alfred couldn't help but ask.

His face turned pale under the black Bat cowl, "Uhh…"

He paused and turned to look at the bubbling acid vat that Two-Face was still inside, "… Dealt with. He shouldn't be much of a problem for a while."

"Oh dear…" Alfred mumbled on the other line, not liking the sound of that with knowing full well how Jason liked to handle things.

"Anyways, Selina didn't know much more than I did but I've stumbled over something Hugo Strange is planning… It's called Protocol 10. I don't know what it is, but it doesn't sound like something I want to happen anytime soon."

Alfred cleared his throat on the other line, "I'll have to agree with you there, Master Jason, do you have any earthly idea what this Protocol 10 could entail?"

Jason glared out the window at the cathedral far down the street before opening the courthouse door and stepping outside into Arkham City again.

"No. But that's what I intend to find out."

He slammed the courthouse door shut behind him, just as an ominous air bubble rose out of the surface of the acid that Harvey was in, popping silently.

…

* * *

 **{A/N} Hey again! Welcome back for the second chapter of The House of Wolves. Now that we've officially dug into this chapter, I just wanted to reassure you as the reader of a couple things. ;)**

 **I've been asked by a couple of my reviewers if we will be seeing Bruce's death eventually in the story or if any of the other past Robins (Dick, Tim, etc.) will be playing a role in this.**

 **Well, without spoiling anything for you, I can assure you that Bruce's death will be heavily expanded on very soon so you better understand what happened. As far as the other Robins go? Hm... I'll leave that as a surprise for you to find out very soon. :)**

 **So leave a review for me if you have any other questions or comments and I hope you enjoy the rest of the story!**

 **Do you think this is the last we've seen of Harvey? What is Selina so desperate to hide? And will Alfred find out about all the killing Jason has done?**

 **Find out next chapter of HoW!**

 **-Nb**


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